Eagles / other birdies in Scotland?

LongLensPhotography

LongLensPhotography

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LongLensPhotography
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It may be far too optimistic, but...

I would love to spend a couple of days in maybe October shooting some big birds somewhere in the highlands. I have 5D3 and would hire a big fat grey lens (500/600mm?) for a weekend. Do you think this would work and would I get a few good keepers (given that I have no specific wildlife shooting experience, but I am definitely not a new kid to photography)? If yes, what locations and / or specific times would I want to look into?

I suppose there is always rutting deer in Glencoe, but I am not so willing to hire for that, so would stick with my own 200mm. It is not ideal but I managed a couple OK snaps already. I could buy 400/5.6L and then offload it later on around Christmas. That would work too.

WLife is not really my thing but I reckon it has to be done since I'm here.
 
Golden eagle are shy birds, and I'm not aware of anywhere offering reliable access to the public. White-tailed eagles on Mull and elsewhere seem like a more realistic proposition. Not quite eagles, but you could pay for a day in a buzzard/red kite hide:
http://www.naturephotographyhides.co.uk/pages/hide-days/buzzard-hide.php

The golden eagle photos I do come across all seem to come from either Scandinavia or eastern Europe.

edit: saying all of that, I'be come across this:
http://www.glentanar.co.uk/wildlife-photography.html
 
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The W said:
Golden eagle are shy birds, and I'm not aware of anywhere offering reliable access to the public. White-tailed eagles on Mull and elsewhere seem like a more realistic proposition. Not quite eagles, but you could pay for a day in a buzzard/red kite hide:
http://www.naturephotographyhides.co.uk/pages/hide-days/buzzard-hide.php

The golden eagle photos I do come across all seem to come from either Scandinavia or eastern Europe.

edit: saying all of that, I'be come across this:
http://www.glentanar.co.uk/wildlife-photography.html
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Anything that doesn't involve paying £200 for an hour in a shed? That would ruin the whole experience right from the outset if I am totally honest.
 
A friend of mine recently went to mull and got some stunning white tail shots he uses a 300 2.8 and extenders on a 5d iii
 
daugirdas said:
Anything that doesn't involve paying £200 for an hour in a shed? That would ruin the whole experience right from the outset if I am totally honest.
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Unfortunately Golden Eagles this side of the Atlantic are timid creatures. There are hides in Eastern Europe where they come in for carrion, but the rules are you have to have your camera setup before they turn up; sudden movement will spook them and they won't come back. I struggle to imagine there is anywhere you can stroll along and expect with any reliability a Golden Eagle sighting at photographic distance. Quite frankly, I'm of the mind to nominate the Golden Eagle as the single most difficult of the British birds to photograph well. (New World Golden Eagles seem to be a different matter, where a place like Yellowstone might turn up one nonchalantly sat roadside) .

White-tailed Eagles seem to be a much more obliging species, and there are plenty of trips and boat rides that offer sightings and potentially good photo ops. However that would mean leaving the Highlands for the western side.

A flickr search for "white tailed eagle scotland" turns up a lot. Change that to Golden eagles and there’s only a few distance shots and lots of captive birds...
 
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The W said:
Unfortunately Golden Eagles this side of the Atlantic are timid creatures. There are hides in Eastern Europe where they come in for carrion, but the rules are you have to have your camera setup before they turn up; sudden movement will spook them and they won't come back. I struggle to imagine there is anywhere you can stroll along and expect with any reliability a Golden Eagle sighting at photographic distance. Quite frankly, I'm of the mind to nominate the Golden Eagle as the single most difficult of the British birds to photograph well. (New World Golden Eagles seem to be a different matter, where somewhere like Yellowstone might turn up one nonchalantly sat roadside) .

White-tailed Eagles seem to be a much more obliging species, and there are plenty of trips and boat rides that offer sightings and potentially good photo ops. However that would mean leaving the Highland
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Let's make it easy - it doesn't need to be a Golden eagle, or any specific eagle in fact, just something portfolio-worthy. I probably wouldn't tell an eagle apart from another large bird of prey :LOL: When I was near some obscure lake in US some pretty big ospreys (presumably) were catching fish maybe 5-10m away from me. I would be more than happy with such shot but obviously 70mm on tripod was of little use. You get the point...
 
Other species are definitely more realistic. While I'd love to follow-up my negative nancy posts with some wonderful, useful suggestions, I've hit the limit of my knowledge! (I'll not bang the Mull drum again...)
 
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Jannyfox said:
You're too late for the ospreys - they're heading south for the winter. Red kites?
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why not. I have little idea what birds are staying - I thought all the big ones were :wacky: I have been watching too many Yellowstone documentaries :LOL:
 
Agree with the comments about the eagles and as already said by October the Ospreys will have left.

Have a look at this one - http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/t/tollieredkites/about.aspx It is a feeding station so there should be a better chance of getting a good shot, but I don't know if the recent poisoning of birds of prey in the area (including, I think, 12 red kites) has had an impact.

How about some of the perhaps less spectacular birds? There is plenty of opportunity around the shore for waders, gulls, herons, even buzzards.

If you are happy to extend the range of wildlife how about dolphins? http://www.moraydolphins.co.uk/watch/chanonry-point.html#.U_JZeKNWUzI

Dave
 
Hi Daurirdas,
The Ospreys will be all gone by the end of this month, I guide to Ospreys so see them every morning and while I had 11 dive in front of the hide this morning, a hide set up is mot what you are looking for, Golden Eagles will be almost impossible so Mull for the WTE is most likely your best bet for big birds, lots of other species to photography and the red Grouse will be good in the purple heather and plenty of them.... without a large lens.
There might be a Capercaillie of two around, again no need for a long lens, normally you just need running shoes to get out of the way, the Dolphins have been pretty slow this year with the poor Salmon run, so Mull for the WTE and Otters would be worth a trip.


Gordon.
 
I've been thinking about this. I think the sensible way is to get a 400mm prime. It seems it is doable around £600 +/- £50 going by ebay prices. I can't really take advantage of Calumet's weekend rental deal (3d for price of 1 but only from Manchester on London store), so have to keep it realistic. 400L is still a fantastic piece of glass and hopefully will work well on my Manfrotto video monopod. This obviously leaves no cash for the gold-lined hides :) so I'll have to do with drive-by shootings and venturing out in the wild for my BBQ grouse portion :)
 
In terms of Eagles

We spend every October at a cottage on the shores of Loch Sunart (just North of Mull) and I see both White Tailed and Golden Eagle on each visit.

Mull offers a more reliable offering in terms of the actual photography.

If you want predictable - try one of the boat trips from Portree on Skye

If you fancy further afield. I stayed on North Harris a couple of months ago (Amhuinnsuidhe) and watched both Golden and White Tailed eagles from the comfort of the cottage deck overlooking the loch. Don't think I've seen as many Eagles as I did each and every day.

North Harris Trust also have the Eagle Observatory now.
 
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I know this isn't wild & free but what about heading to a falconry centre? At the very least it would give some decent practice (sorry - that wasn't meant to be in any way condescending as you're a much better photographer than me!) and at the right time of year you can still get the right kind of scenery in the background.
 
P.S. Did I miss anything obvious about getting across to the islands? £100-ish for a 5mile boat sail - really?! That'd limit me to the mainland (I honestly don't expect to make that much money back from my truly hopeless-to-start-with WL shots). I'm certainly not driving '14 reg V8 Range Rover.

pjm1 said:
I know this isn't wild & free but what about heading to a falconry centre? At the very least it would give some decent practice (sorry - that wasn't meant to be in any way condescending as you're a much better photographer than me!) and at the right time of year you can still get the right kind of scenery in the background.
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I have nothing against that, but from experience they are normally chained to something, there are white boards in the background or something else to spoil the view.
 
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daugirdas said:
Harris / Mull? I appreciate Harris is further away, but Mull ferry is even more!
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I'll lend you my boat ;)

IMG_0045 by dinners85

Joking aside - Skye Bridge is free now and the boat trips from Portree will deliver Eagles for you.

As for Mull prices - Calmac have a monopoly. I've not priced it but the shorter Lochaline - Fishnish crossing may be your cheapest option ?

Should have mentioned - Mull in October is when the Car Rally is on (10th-12th this year) which can be a bit of a pain.
 
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dinners said:
I'll lend you my boat ;)

IMG_0045 by dinners85

Joking aside - Skye Bridge is free now and the boat trips from Portree will deliver Eagles for you.

As for Mull prices - Calmac have a monopoly. I've not priced it but the shorter Lochaline - Fishnish crossing may be your cheapest option ?

Should have mentioned - Mull in October is when the Car Rally is on (10th-12th this year) which can be a bit of a pain.
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The rally sounds interesting - some newsworthy material to potentially pay for the boat ride :)

For some reason I can't select the Lochaline - Fishnish route on the website... remember I'm going for a day and then back a few more times, not 2wks holiday
 
daugirdas said:
The rally sounds interesting - some newsworthy material to potentially pay for the boat ride :)

For some reason I can't select the Lochaline - Fishnish route on the website... remember I'm going for a day and then back a few more times, not 2wks holiday
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Here you go..........Lochaline - Fishnish timetable and prices 4th April - 26th Oct

They do a 6 journey ticket that covers 1 vehicle and driver

http://status.calmac.info/Timetables/summer-mull--lochaline-fishnish.pdf
 
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Fieldcraft is the most important aspect of any wildlife photography, from my experience.
October in the highlands? I probably wouldn't, personally.
Osprey / Dolphin season has just passed, they were the best times to get shots of Ospreys diving (from a hide) or on the nest - but again, you'd need a long lens. They are off to africa now. Dolphins tail off towards the mid part of September I hear (went in July this year, and was awesome, went in august last year (around this time), and was awful), and Grouse... well the shooting season just started so they will be very jumpy, get out of the car and they will be off.
Mountain hares in the mountains are v jumpy this time of yr too.
It is highly unlikely you'll walk across a capercaillie, and getting close to eagles is not such an easy task. Not sure when the Mull boat trips end for photographing eagles catching fish, but pretty sure that will be soon as well. Golden Eagles when I last went to mull are v shy, you can't get close to them at all, very skittish birds.

October your best bet is probably the rut, as you say. Or hide rental somewhere. The lochs may be full of waders and winter birds, as well if that's your sort of thing.

I personally will be looking forward to the migrants and return of all the waders, that combined with local landscapes of cornwall/devon will be my autumn/winter sorted :)

Otters on mull is probably do-able (you will need longer than 400 though), i hear they are good but require an early start and you will get messy. If the sea eagle trips are still happening, then get on that too
 
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